The Phoenix Trilogy (Book 1): World On Fire (35 page)

    
“Somebody’s setting us up.” Now Rico had
joined them at the front of the party, all four members of the crew shaking
their heads in disbelief. A far off thought told Natalie that he shouldn’t be
discussing things like that in front of the other soldiers, but she couldn’t
deny that she agreed with him. Someone did this, and they timed it on purpose.

    “So
this was a waste of time, then? That’s what you’re saying?” A murmur of
agreement rippled from the company behind them. Natalie didn’t know who had
said it, and she didn’t care.
Did they know about this? Was it the outpost
that covered all of this up, or somebody else?

    
“Alright everybody, back in the truck.
Even if there is something underneath all that, we don’t have time to go
digging it up. Maybe the captain will send a crew out here for you guys.” It
was the driver speaking now, and everything about the dismissive tone he used
infuriated Natalie. They were going back empty-handed, and any credibility they
had was going to take a hit. Natalie’s jaw was clenched tight as she clambered into
the back.

    The
ride home was short and uneventful, though to Natalie it dragged on forever. As
if salting the wound, the undead never made an appearance, further cementing
the idea that BJ and the others were paranoid and not to be trusted. In less
than an hour, their reputation had been all but ruined. If it had been done on
purpose, she had to admit it was a masterstroke.

    The
rest of the day was a blur of frustration and confusion. From the moment they
left the truck, they were ignored and shuffled aside. The woman BJ had spoken
to about the digger ignored his outstretched hand as he thanked her for hearing
him out and apologized for wasting her time. Exiting the checkpoint and
entering the outpost proper revealed that the refugees inside had heard, and
even they were cold.

    It
was when the woman who had been so friendly with Rico earlier openly glowered
at him that Natalie felt her lowest. He had turned to Natalie and whispered,
“We threatened their hope of safety at last. Worse, in their eyes, we did it
for nothing.”

    Lying
awake in her new cot in the barracks, Natalie steamed over that for hours.
We
threatened their hope. That’s what they think. Doesn’t anyone realize how
unlikely it is that we just magically became safe again?

    Their
team had been put on some kind of probation. Natalie wasn’t there to hear the
report in person, but BJ had announced to all of them that they would be
confined to the barracks until they could be “evaluated,” though he didn’t say
what that meant.

    While
Marco and Rico were both intermittently ashamed and bitter about what had
happened, BJ looked only frustrated. Apparently, he had been put through the
wringer by the same Wesley that Natalie had heard mentioned earlier that day,
and that had made this whole situation worse.

    The
one upside to being sidelined was the promise for combat training. Hand-to-hand
fighting, as well as a much deeper understanding of her weaponry, were both
slated for Natalie’s very near future. It was simultaneously something that she
needed, and an excuse to blow off some excess steam.

    At
the moment, however, Natalie was left to her own boiling emotions. It was time
to sleep, but every time she closed her eyes, she saw the collapsed building
again. She remembered the almost casual annoyance that had been directed at her
from the guards and refugees after their return. Burying her head in her
pillow, she took a deep breath.

    
There’s
nothing to be done for it. If they won’t believe that something is going on,
that’s fine. We’ll just have to do everything we can to stay prepared for
ourselves. Let them pay for their own damn ignorance on their own time.

    
It wasn’t how Natalie truly felt, but
venting was all she could do to try and quell the rage that was in her heart.
It was several more hours before she finally settled down enough to rest, and
even then it was fitful and uneven. In the end, Natalie fell asleep to images
of violence, her hands clenched tightly into fists.

    
Stephen hadn’t seen Natalie since she left to take her
assignment at the medical ward, but he had heard all of the news about her
joining BJ’s crew and their failed expedition. Lia’s den was filled with people
grumbling about it, and though he held a cautious optimism that the world was
slowly returning to its normal self, he had to admit that he trusted BJ’s
judgment on the subject more.

    Resting
at the table in his usual place, Stephen ran a hand through his thick brown
hair and let out a flustered groan. If BJ was right, and they weren’t as safe
as the guards were insisting, then the future wasn’t exactly beaming. As if
perfectly on cue with his sigh, Lia chuckled in his direction.

    “Keep
rubbing that head of yours and you’re going to go bald. Ask Jessie.” At the
mention of his name, a middle-aged man with a nearly sparkling bare skull
nodded sagely, quietly beginning to prattle on about the days of his youth. Lia
smiled brightly, but faltered when she noticed Stephen’s lack of energy.

    “Hey
Pavel, take over the rations for a sec, will ya? Stephen and I are going to
check stocks.” Satisfied that her duties would be taken care of for the moment,
Lia gestured for Stephen to join her.

    Stephen
wasn’t sure what it was Lia wanted, but she had always treated him like family,
and he figured the work might do him some good. At the very least it might get
his mind off of the last several days, and that was a relief that Stephen
sorely wanted.

    Things
had all started to go south after Stephen had met the strange blond man roughly
four days ago. It had been a day like any other, his time spent guiding
confused refugees from one place to another inside the sprawling camp, until he
noticed a new person wandering the streets.

    By
that point it had been nearly three days since Natalie had first shown up in
town, and the blond man was the only other newcomer to arrive since. In keeping
with his self-appointed duties, Stephen had greeted the stranger with his usual
candor and offered to help him find his way around.

    The
moment he heard him speak, Stephen noticed something was wrong. The man was
perfectly cordial, and for all intents and purposes he was no different than
any of the other people seeking safety inside the camp, but still Stephen’s
instincts had insisted that this man was anything but normal.

    Stephen
had helped many people over the course of his time in the outpost, and he had
grown accustomed to dealing with refugees of all sorts. In light of that
experience, everything about the gentleman in front of him had felt off-kilter.
It was as if he were looking at a very well done forgery, perfect in nearly
every way, but made by someone who had never actually experienced the subject
of their work.

    Worse
still, the stranger was looking for Natalie. According to him, he had been
separated from her for a few days and was hoping to hear if she had safely
arrived in the camp. Even if he couldn’t explain it, Stephen had felt that
answering him honestly was a bad idea, and instead offered to take the newcomer
to registration.

    Polite
as ever, the man declined his offer, claiming that he had already gone through
the process and was simply trying to find his friend. Almost as an
afterthought, he had added that he was concerned for her safety, and Stephen’s
skin crawled. Then without another word, the stranger had wandered away into
the crowd.

    Stephen
found him again the following morning, this time at Lia’s place getting
rations. He had waited for the man to finish his business and leave before approaching
Lia, who had just wished him good luck in finding Natalie.

    After
pulling Lia aside and telling her of his concerns regarding the stranger and
Natalie, she had dismissed him, chiding him for feeling jealous over his
“little crush” and allowing it to make him paranoid. Ever since, his
relationship with Lia had taken a turn for the worse, and his only real home in
the outpost had felt less comfortable.

    Today
was the first day Stephen had been back to Lia’s, and that was only because the
story of BJ’s crew supposedly crying wolf had bummed him out too badly for him
to care about anything else. All in all, he just wanted a place to relax and
clear his head for a little while. As such, when he joined Lia in the cramped
room that served as their office to look over their supplies, he felt an
obvious tension between himself and the older woman.

    “You’ve
been gone a while. Everything okay?” Lia handed him a sheet of paper filled
with records on what supplies they were supposed to have on hand, but Stephen
guessed she didn’t have much interest in really getting the work done. Instead
of responding, he took to doing his job anyway.

    Neither
of them spoke for several minutes, though Stephen could feel Lia studying him
from a distance. After it became apparent that he wasn’t feeling up to a chat,
Lia sighed and set her papers down.

    “I
don’t know if I should be telling you this, but… you may have been right, about
the guy looking for Natalie.” Stephen’s attention was caught at that, and he
whirled to look at Lia directly. Without further need for motivation, she
continued, her face uncharacteristically grim.

    “He
said his name was John Smith, which I guessed was fake, but I figured it was
none of my business.” A sharp spark of rage flamed to life inside Stephen’s
chest, but before he could speak, Lia hastily added, “I’d already told him
about Natalie being assigned to the medical ward before I gave him his
supplies, so there was no stopping that.”

    Stephen
shook his head in silence, unable to think of anything to say. He knew the guy
had been bad news, and Lia had blown him off like he was just some jealous kid.
Finally, he sat down with a huff, hunting for words that wouldn’t come to him.
Lia was wringing her hands, and with a feeling of growing unease, he realized
she wasn’t finished yet.

    “There’s
more, Stephen. We… we don’t know where he is. He hasn’t gotten any rations from
me, or from any of the other suppliers, for a few days. I talked to Clarence
over at the registry, and he told me the guy got tagged by the soldiers for
snooping around the medical ward. That was the last time anybody saw him.”
Lia’s words were like a lead weight in Stephen’s stomach. He could see her
concern for him written all over her face, but he was infinitely more worried
about Natalie.

    “Has
anybody told her? I mean does she know there’s some, some psychopath or
something that’s looking for her?” Stephen’s voice was high pitched and uneven,
but it wasn’t something he found he could control. He was doing his best not to
panic, and his best was proving inadequate.

    Stephen
had never lived a hard life, and this level of worry was not something he was
accustomed to handling. He had been one of the first people to establish
themselves in the outpost, alongside Lia and a handful of others, and though
there had been rough patches inside the walls, most of the problems had never
involved him personally. Now that he was faced with a legitimate danger, and
one he may have inadvertently let slide, he didn’t know what he was supposed to
do.

    “Relax,
honey. Just relax. You saw that girl. She’s always got her eyes open, and
besides that, she’s with BJ and the Mercado boys, now. Safest place in the
whole camp. If we tell her about this guy, she’s just going to lose sleep over
it.” Stephen started a haughty protest, but Lia wasn’t having any of it. She
had resumed her motherly role with vigor.

    “If
you’re worried, keep an eye on her for yourself, and I’ll do the same. That’s
my compromise. After everything she’s been through today, adding more to the
plate isn’t going to help her.” Lia was being stern, but Stephen knew she was
trying to do what she believed was best for Natalie. Instead of agreeing with
her, or pressing the matter further, he let out another heavy sigh.

    “Lia…
do you believe them? About the new monster, and everything about the undead
disappearing just being a bad omen? Because as much as I don’t like saying it
out loud, I do.” Stephen looked down at his lap, idly twiddling his thumbs
while he tried in vain to keep his spirits up. “It’s just… it’s BJ, you know? I
know it’s easier to believe everything is going to be fine, but still. How can
anybody not trust him?”

    Part
of Stephen desperately hoped Lia would disagree with him, would tell him that he
was being pessimistic for thinking they might be in real danger. When Lia came
over to his side and gently took his hand, he knew his hope was futile. Whether
or not she said it aloud, Lia was worried just as much as he was about their
future in the camp.

    It
was a feeling that lit a fire in his heart. Stephen cared deeply for Lia, and
for many of the other refugees that had come to be his friends and family in
the camp. Squeezing her fingers reassuringly, Stephen made a promise to himself.

    Come
what may, he was going to do everything in his power to protect them. He would
continue to help the people around him as best he could, and while he did, he
would hunt the strange blond man that was pursuing Natalie. Given his
connections amongst the refugees, Stephen was confident he could find him. It
was only a matter of time.